An illusion for United
lack commanding defenders. The back line lacks authority, power, certainty.
Mourinho, though, protected his defenders and instead blamed fatigue from the Juventus trip. He also fell back on United’s growing ability to fight back in games, to keep going.
Sir Alex Ferguson, who was here, used to tap his watch at the end of games not as a timekeeping service to referees, but to instill fear in the opposition. The message was: this is when United always score. In those days, United would be pouring forward with hellfire in their eyes. They scored as an affirmation of the team’s pedigree.
For 20 years opponents lived in fear of what United would do late in games.
Mourinho’s United are comeback specialists, too, but by bump and grind, rather than irresistible play. In Turin, during a potentially season-changing victory over Juventus, they scored in the 86th and 89th minutes – the latter an Alex Sandro own goal. The old songs are the best.
But the familiar dirge returned four days later. United were sliced open by City in the opening exchanges and conceded after 12 minutes.
Goals for David Silva and Sergio Aguero left United with their worst defensive record after 12 games for 17 years. Then, City’s third, four minutes from time, sent United spinning back to England’s World Cup-winning year. Anthony Martial’s penalty after 58 minutes put United back in the game, but City have a spare sack of goals they can always delve into when the opposition start to get cheeky.
“The fight until the end is something we’re building, and we’re not going to lose that,” United conceded the opening goal for the seventh time in the league this season. Only Cardiff, Fulham (nine games) and Crystal Palace (eight) have conceded first more often in the top flight.
Manager’s worst nightmare is a porous team. It goes against everything he stands for
Mourinho said. But he overplayed the strength of the United countersurge. Best of all was him claiming that Paul Pogba’s injury removed Marouane Fellaini as a late-game weapon City would surely have succumbed to. He said: “To bring a fresh Fellaini to the pitch, they would have been in big trouble. It’s one thing to bring a fresh Fellaini, it’s another to play him from the beginning.”
He was not going to discuss defensive frailties. “You can go for stats,” Mourinho said. “That’s the way people who don’t understand football analyse football.
“I don’t go for stats. I go for what I saw and felt in the game. And the game was there until minute 85. I consider the performance of my team a performance with mistakes. It’s different to a bad performance. We made mistakes, we were punished for mistakes.”
The echo of 1966 is alarming for United’s supporters, but there is a brighter angle to it. The club won the league that season (1966-67). But they are 250-1 with some bookmakers to do so this time round.